Poetry Africa honours Madiba’s centenary of school year

AN initiative of University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Creative Arts, Poetry Africa sees its 29th edition this October. The vibrant celebration of poetry from across Africa and beyond that brings together spoken word artists, performers, and poetry enthusiasts, has added a fresh element directed at slam poets that begins at the end of this month.

According to Andile Mpisi, festival project officer, “Education is power” will be the central theme that will drive the 2025 Poetry Africa programme. She added that the festival theme was selected to commemorate the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s first year at school.

“The Nobel laureate and first President of South Africa’s constitutional democracy, Nelson Mandela, started his primary schooling near his village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape in January 1925. He grew up to acknowledge education as a powerful platform that could bring about equality and promote tolerance. The Poetry Africa programmes are our creative response to remind our nation about the important value that Nelson Mandela placed on education,” says Siphindile Hlongwa, the curator of the Poetry Africa festival.

Also read: Shared history of struggle brings Palestinian poet to Poetry Africa

The Poetry Africa festival is also kicking off a monthly slam poetry competition aimed specifically at slam poets from the greater Ethekwini municipality. It starts on January 31, running on the last Friday of every month at the Centre For Creative Arts, Howard College.

The winner of each month’s competition from January to August will receive a R1 000 prize. The eight monthly winners will also be invited to a mentorship programme in September, following which they will be presented in a specially curated programme at the 29th annual Poetry Africa festival in October 2025.

“We want slam poets to use their creative voices to encourage young people to immerse themselves in education by drawing inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s commitment to education”, said Mpisi.

Poetry Africa will run from October 2 to 11, at various venues across the city.

For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.

Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here

At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!

Stay in the know. Download the Caxton Local News Network App here.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}